A MORECAMBE man who cheated the benefits system after undergoing major heart surgery has been jailed for six months.

William Charnley, 57, of Baycliffe Crescent, claimed up to £54,000 in benefits over an 11 year period despite earning £100 a week working at a butchers.

He legitimately claimed the benefit after undergoing a heart bypass operation in 1990 but he continued to claim the money after securing employment.

Charney, who faces the possibility of further heart surgery, started his six month sentence this week.

Lancaster Crown Court heard that Charney was a man of good character and had no previous convictions.

He paid money into a bank account set up using a false name and a spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Security said they were surprised at how Charney had got away with it for so long.

He added that although the weekly sum was not large over the years it was a considerable amount of money.

The defence argued that Charney was not living the high life from the benefits scam but was using the money to make ends meet. Taking into account his pay and benefits he still had only £200 a week for himself and his wife.

It was explained that, having cheated the system, Charney had found it difficult to stop the fraud knowing that it would lead to his detection.

However, Judge Proctor said that benefit cheats could not be tolerated and he sentenced Charney to six months each for eight charges to run concurrently.